


It's Everything You Wanted; It's Everything You Don't

by Willow_Angel



Series: Exam Time Again [8]
Category: Youtube RPF, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, I also can't tag, Implied Sexual Content, Love, M/M, Romance, Tyler is a saint, jack can't figure out his feelings, slight nsfw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 13:33:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8535121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willow_Angel/pseuds/Willow_Angel
Summary: AU. In which Mark and Jack can't figure out their feelings.Sequel/Alternate ending to "Holiday Plans" - please read that first! Thank you! :DTitle from "Holding On and Letting Go" by Ross Copperman.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I'm back with some more Septiplier goodness! :D
> 
> So, if you haven't read the last story in the Exam Time Again series, "Holiday Plans", please read that first! This is an alternate ending to that. After I published HP, this "what if" kept bugging me, so I wrote it. Please go and read that, and then come back here :D  
> (It's the last installment in this series - you only have to press one button, seriously :3)
> 
> If you have read HP, welcome back! :D I hope you enjoy this alternate ending ^~^

Mark woke up the next morning shivering as Jack placed soft, chaste kisses to his chest.  He looked down to see Jack’s pale skin almost glowing next to Mark’s darker tone. Jack was curled up next to him, and Mark’s blurred vision noticed clothing items all over the couch and on the floor next to the mattress.

He smiled, pulling Jack closer and nuzzling the top of his grey-brown head.

“Mornin’,” Jack mumbled, his breath tickling Mark’s skin.

“Morning,” Mark replied.

They fell into a comfortable silence for a while, Mark tracing patterns into Jack’s shoulder, Jack doing the same into his chest.

“We should really talk about this,” Jack said quietly.

“Yeah,” Mark replied. “I guess we should.”

Silence again, until Mark’s phone buzzed with a notification.

“We should also get up,” he sighed. “Y’know, before someone comes down and finds us.”

Jack groaned. “Don’t really wanna move,” he grumbled, and Mark chuckled.

“Me neither, but I don’t want _Wade_ coming over to look for us and seeing this, if you don’t mind,” he said, and Jack laughed, finally moving off. Mark missed the warmth immediately and fought the urge to pull him back down.

They put their pants on and walked over to the couch to get their shirts. Mark put his glasses on and shrugged the red flannel back on, but didn’t bother to do up the buttons as he reached for his phone, turning it on. It was 11:38 AM. Wow.

He told the time to Jack, who laughed. It was a kind of half-hearted laugh, and Mark put his phone down.

“Are you alright?” Mark asked quietly. Jack looked at him, and then looked down, running a hand through his hair and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Listen, about… that,” Jack started awkwardly. Mark put his phone down and leaned against the arm of the couch, doing up the buttons on his shirt. He waited patiently for Jack to continue. “It was, uh, it…”

Mark started to worry.

Jack sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets, looking up at Mark. “It was fuckin’ fantastic, it really was,” he admitted. “But, uh, the thing is…” He trailed off, looking down again and shuffling his feet.

“Do you regret it?” Mark couldn’t help but ask.

“No,” Jack said. “No, I really don’t.” Jack sat down with a huff. “Do you?”

“No, fuck no,” Mark replied, sitting down next to him. “Of course I don’t.”

Jack huffed a laugh. “I’m sorry,” he said, after a moment of silence. “I’m just… I’m really confused. About myself, about my feelings for you. I… I don’t want this to be a one-time thing, god knows I don’t.”

“I don’t either,” Mark said quietly.

Jack opened his mouth to continue when Mark’s phone started ringing, perfectly on cue. Mark sighed when he saw _Wade Barnes_ written across the display.

“Hello?” he answered.

 _“Hey Mark,”_ Wade said. _“You and Jack up for the arcade this afternoon?”_

Mark covered the microphone and asked Jack, who nodded with a small smile. Mark replayed the affirmative to Wade.

_“Great! See you later!”_

“Seeya,” Mark replied, and put his phone down again. He looked over at Jack, who was wringing his hands.

Mark hoped to whatever god was out there that they could sort this out.

\---

It happened again that night. But this time, it had been Jack that started it.

Mark had just come back from the bathroom. He needed a breather, as after another night of video games he had forgotten about the events of the previous night. But then he had taken one sideways look at Jack and his adorable concentration face, and it had all come flooding back.

When he entered the room again, Jack was standing up, stretching. But as soon as Mark had closed the door behind him, Jack had thrown himself against him, clutching the collar of his shirt and claiming Mark’s mouth with his own. In surprise, Mark leant back against the door, his hands going to Jack’s hips. Before he realised it, he was kissing back.

He knew he should question it. The rational part of his mind said that he should stop Jack, and that they should talk, but…

Jack moaned softly, and all rational thought went out the window.

They didn’t make it to the bed that time.

\---

They kept this up, for a while. Mark started thinking of it as, “Keep having sex until we figure out our feelings”, and it worked for a little while.

But after a while, one of Mark’s friends started asking questions.

“What is going on with you and Jack lately?” Tyler asked as they lined up for coffee. They were out with the big group today: Mark, Tyler, Jack, Wade, Bob, Molly, Amanda, Felix, Marzia, Ken, Mary – they decided to have a big day out.

“What do you mean?” Mark asked.

Tyler rolled his eyes. “You know exactly what I mean. The ‘Universal Angle of Heterosexual Longing’? Except, he looks at you like you’re a piece of meat sometimes. It’s kinda freaky,” he added.

Mark sighed. “I dunno, it’s… it’s complicated.”

“I’m all ears.”

Mark ran a hand through his hair. “We, uh, we’ve had sex. A few times. But we’re not… a thing. It’s basically just, I dunno, friends with benefits?” He sighed again. “Like I said, it’s complicated.”

Tyler whistled lowly. “Wow,” he said. “I mean, you have been pining after him for a little while now, right?”

“Shut up.”

“What I mean,” Tyler continued patiently, “you two should talk. Figure out what you are already, because you two are driving everybody in _sane_. Seriously.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

“Shit,” Mark muttered.

“So, talk to him. If you don’t, you guys might just stop being friends and just start being fuck buddies. And I know that you don’t want that. _I_ don’t want that, I know how close you two are.” Tyler took the tray of coffees off the woman behind the counter, giving her one of his charming smiles. “Thank you!”

“I’ll try,” Mark said with a small smile.

“Good!”  Tyler clapped him on the shoulder. “Go get him.”

\---

That night, when Mark and Jack were alone in the basement again, Mark started the conversation.

“Jack,” he announced. “We need to talk.”

Jack raised an eyebrow at him. “About what?”

Mark huffed. “You know exactly what,” he said. “I can’t keep doing this.”

Jack looked down.

Mark kept talking. “I can’t keep doing this keep-having-sex-until-you-get-your-shit-together thing, because I need to know what I am to you, Jack.”

Jack looked up again. “What do you mean?”

Mark ran his hands through his hair. “We’re just- I need to know what you see me as. Fuck buddy, friend with benefits, boyfriend, I dunno! I’m so confused!” he was trying – and probably failing – to keep his voice down.”

Jack looked at him for a while. Finally, he asked, “What do you see me as?”

Mark rubbed his face and dropped his hands, and laid out his cards. “You’re everything to me, Jack. I’m fucking in love with you, I have been for a while, and I want to know if you love me too.”

Jack’s eyes went wide. They both went still for a moment, until Jack slowly started walking towards Mark. He stopped just in front of him, and they both studied each other. Jack’s hand slowly went up to touch Mark’s cheek. It was hesitant, almost like he was afraid. Mark waited.

Jack’s thumb stroked along Mark’s jawline, and Jack nodded. Small at first, and then faster, more urgently, and then he just collapsed against Mark. He wrapped his arms around Mark’s neck and buried his face into his shoulder.

“I do,” he mumbled. “Fuck, I do love you, don’t I? Fuck me, I do.”

Mark pulled him closer, and they stood there like that for a while.

Jack pulled back gently, and cupped Mark’s cheek with one hand. “Can I kiss you?” he asked quietly. “That’s all. I- I don’t want to do anything else.”

Mark smiled, and nodded, and Jack leaned in to kiss him. It was soft and sweet, and so full of innocence that Mark was almost surprised.  It was what their first kiss _should_ have been like, instead of the one they did have.

“I love you,” Mark mumbled against Jack’s lips, and he felt the boy smile.

“I love you too,” he replied. Pulling back a little, he asked softly, “Do you- do you want to be my boyfriend, Mark?”

Mark grinned, and kissed Jack’s nose. “I’d like that very much,” he said, and kissed his lips again.

 

It all worked out okay in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments, CC and kudos are always appreciated ^~^


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